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Guess who’s
saying
goodbye?
See page 6
The eagle’s eye
Volume XV Issue 3
Duanesburg Central School
Spring
Project management class “Tryin’ for Brian”
newby Maeve McKeeby
“To do something real and beneficial
to the community” was
this year’s goal for Mrs.
Toler’s Project Management class. In addition to
creating the tickets and
playbill for the school
musical, the class decided
to do something that not
only betters the Duanesburg community, but the
entire country. The class
decided to fight Prostate
Cancer head on in their
“Tryin’ for Brian; DCS
vs. PC” fundraiser. They
originally established a
$3000 goal, but after the
first planned event had
already surpassed that
goal. As of February 4
2015, the class had raised
just under $5,000 with
two events to go. The
money will benefit prostate
cancer
research
throughout the United
States and spread awareness throughout the community.
In addition to
planning the events the
class also spent a lot of
time into researching
prostate cancer. At each
event the class has a dis-
Shirts still available
Tori Geiger and Monica Krug display the “Tryin for Brian” t-shsirts.
More than $5,000 has already been
raised in the fight against prostate
cancer. It’s never too late to contribute. See Mrs. Toler.
play that tells not only
facts about prostate cancer
but also shares the story
of 6th grade teacher, Mr.
Brian McGarry, who is
currently fighting stage
four
prostate
cancer.
Throughout the display
McGarry emphasizes the
importance of screenings
and regular checkups. The
class chose to donate their
profits to Dr. Anderson,
McGarry’s doctor in Texas as both a “thank you”
for caring for one of the
most inspirational teachers in the DCS community, but also for more re-
search to be possible and
to “educate people on
Prostate Cancer” said one
member of the class, senior Emma White.
Three
events
were
planned in the “Tryin’ for
Brian” campaign including the Senior nights for
both Wrestling and Basketball. The next event
where you can help combat Prostate Cancer will
be at Duanesburg Days at
the Duanesburg Middle/
High School on March 28,
2015.
Editorial
The Eagle’s Eye
2
Duanesburgnesburganesburg
Staff
The eagle’s eye
Reporters: Ashley Battaglioli
Maeve McKeeby
Karly Boyd
Kyle Walter
Bridget Cox
Isabella Barrantes
Abby White
Rachel Gamache
Carina Possamato
Connelly Holmes
Brianna Colucci
The Eagle’s Eye is a student
publication. The staff meets
every Tuesday after school. If
you are interested in working
for the newspaper, please see
Mr. Reiter in Room 115 or
speak with any staff member.
Comments? E-mail us at
Treiter@duanesburg.org
F
Spring
Nobody beats
The GWIZ!
As
athletes
at
Duanesburg we dream of
league titles, sectional titles,
and yes, even state title.
How great is it to put a Section 2 patch on the sleeve of a
jacket? It’s fantastic! Few of
us dare to dream of being a
national champion., and if we
do most would say it’s just a
pipedream, but one recent
DCS graduate not only realized his dream, he repeated it.
As DCS students we
all should be proud of Nick
Gwiazdowski. For the few DBurgers who have no television, radio, phone, or friends,
NC State Junior and Duanesburg
graduate
Nick
Gwiazdowski recently won
his
second
consecutive
NCAA national wrestling
championship.
Prior
to
Nick we could count our national champions on one
hand, actually no hands. Now
we have a graduate who has
the chance to “threepeat.”
Thank you Coach Conway
and Coach Bena and all the
others who helped Nick reach
his greatness. Thank you
Nick for putting us on the
map.
Feature
The Eagle’s Eye
3
Duanesburgnesburganesburg
Spring
Students perform
poem interpretations
By Abby White
Poetry Out Loud
is a time-honored tradition
at Duanesburg. Every year
all of the high school English classes have competitions and send their two
best students to the school
wide completion. This
year's competition was no
different, as students from
grades
nine
through
twelve competed for the
honor of going to the regional competition.
This year's competition
consisted of two rounds,
as the first ended in a three
-way tie between Bryce
Schultz, Allison Fiorini,
and Ben Lawrence. All
three students then went
on to the second round,
where it was decided that
Bryce and Allison would
go on to regionals, and
Ben would serve as an
alternate should either of
them be unable to perform.
New York State finals
are set to begin on March
ninth, and hopefully we
will see a Duanesburg
representative at the competition.
Best of luck to all
of the Duanesburg finalists. Go Eagles!
News Flash!
Bryce takes third!
Senior Athletes
Congratulations to Rachel Gamache and
Connor Lawrence on their great athletic
careers at Duanesburg. Connor recently
took the bronze medal at the NYS wrestling championships and Rachel became
the second Lady Eagle to score more
than 1,000 points in her career.
Now I know where my
homework went!
Ross Laplante checks out
the “Behind the Lockers”
display which is located
near the gymnasium entrance. The display has
artifacts found when the
old lockers were removed
and the new ones installed.
Check it out.
Feature
The Eagle’s Eye
4
Duanesburgnesburganesburg
Spring
Mock Trial team faces county competition
Future attorneys to face Niskayuna, Bishop Gibbons, and Mohon
By Karly Boyd
Duanesburg high
school has rounded up
some intellectual and excited students to participate in this year’s Schenectady County Mock
Trial competition. This
competition consists of
ambitious “lawyers’ going
head to head battling to of attorney advisor John
differentiate justice from Healy and club advisor
fraud.
Mr.Schalekamp, the team
will take on Niskayuna,
This year lawyers Mohonasen and Bishop
Abby White, Alison Fio- Gibbons.
rini and Karly Boyd take
Playing the roles
on an embezzlement case of many in -depth and inabout theft, fundraising telligent witnesses crucial
and betrayal. With the help to the case, are Julia
Alotta, Patrick Powers,
Joey Wolken, Kyle Walter, Wyeth McKinley and
Sarah White.
This years team is
off to a powerful start by
winning the first case in
the schools history against
Niskayuna High School!
The team is hard
at work every Tuesday and
Thursday planning questions, preparing objections
Thank you taxpayers! Read
about the capital
project next issue!
and learning the love of
law! Don’t get caught up
in “hearsay” come and see
the team in action at the
Schenectady Court House!
Wins!
This year’s team
did something no
other Mock Trial
Team had done
recently. They
picked up two
wins. With so
many underclassmen on the team
the future looks
bright. The verdict
is in! DCS is on
the way up.
Will winter ever go away?
Feature
The Eagle’s Eye
5
Duanesburgnesburganesburg
Spring
Don’t blame cafeteria for changes
New state regulations limit choices and proportions
by Abby White,
As many students and faculty members have no doubt noticed, the snack bar and
cafeteria have changed
their menus again, due
to changes in state regulations.
These changes
are the result of an antiobesity push in America. The new New York
State Education requirements put restrictions
on
the
amount of fat, sodium
(salt), and calories that
can
be in school lunches,
and school-sold snacks.
The new regulations for
sodium intake state that
no more than 600mg of
sodium can be in the
school’s total for all
meals sold between 8
and 2. This time frame
includes both breakfast
and lunch, so the total
sodium content of both
meals cannot exceed
this limit.
Consequently
high sodium foods like
mozzarella cheese or
the old bread sticks can
no longer be offered.
Canned vegetables, olives, pickles,
and packaged mixes,
such as boxed and instant potatoes, and rice
are also notoriously
high in sodium. Premade tomato sauces
and salsas are also high
in sodium.
There are also
new regulations for
snacks sold at the snack
bar. Now snacks cannot
exceed 200 calories.
Also snacks now have
to contain 230 mg of
sodium or less. And no
more than 35% of total
calories can come from
fat. The sugar in the
snack now has to equal
35% or less of the total
weight of the snack.
With strict regulations like these, it is
easy to see how some
of our favorite snacks
and lunch options are
now off of the menu.
And it's easy to say, if
cheese and bread sticks
are off of the menu,
then why are pretzels
still on?
They
clearly exceed the sodium content of the snack
limit so why are they
here? The answer is
because the pretzels are
sold as a entree, not as
a snack. So because of
this they have to meet
the meal limits, not the
snack codes.
Thanks Leo Club
by Abby White
Continuing the tradition from
last year, the Leo Club has spread
cheer and school spirit by celebrating
random acts of kindness week.
The Leo Club arrived early Valentine’s Day and used school-approved
painter’s tape to stick hand addressed
Valentines to each and every lockermuch to the surprise of the student
body.
One student said "It really brightened my day" with another saying "It
was awesome,” this was truly a wonderful random act of kindness that the
school looks forward to next year.
Commentary
The Eagle’s Eye
6
Duanesburgnesburganesburg
Spring
Principal thanks students, staff,
faculty for rewarding two years
By Mrs. Wehner
A little less than
two years ago, I saw an
ad for a principal position at Duanesburg High
School. It was close to
where our new home
would be, it was a small
school as compared to
where I had worked and
it was about an hour
away from the State
College at Oneonta,
where I earned a Bachelors Degree in Geology.
I took the leap, applied,
interviewed twice, was
offered and accepted the
position. I was now the
leader of a high school.
Leadership is difficult,
challenging and rewarding. Difficult because
you have to make decisions that are not popu-
lar. I numbered parking
lot spaces, I raised the
bar to earn senior privilege, we put grading
reports on the portal, I
moved the deadline for
determining class rank
to the end of the third
marking period and took
homeroom out of the
schedule.
Challenging, as
I am the only building
level leader in the high
school responsible for
all aspects of building
administration.
This
requires working long
days, attending as many
events as I can, handling
building
maintenance
issues, working through
disputes between students and among staff,
arranging for all testing,
assuring that we have
qualified, caring and
responsible
teaching
staff for our students,
working diligently so
that all seniors will graduate and underclassmen
will successfully advance to the next year,
and managing the plethora of committee meetings and extracurricular
responsibilities that are
part of the position.
Rewarding because of YOU! YOU
are the students who are
respectful, polite, responsible and still care
about
your
school.
YOU are the teachers
who spend long hours
planning and preparing
learning activities to
enhance, enrich and educate our students. YOU
are the staff who help
one another and students
who are in need in anyway that you can. Examples include Tryin'
for Brian, the Red Cross
Blood Drives, contributions to Toys for Tots
and Ronald McDonald
House. YOU are the
custodians who take
pride in keeping our
building in the best
shape possible and who
are there in a moments
notice to plug a leak, fix
the heat, close a gym
door, pull out the
bleachers and set up for
meetings. YOU are the
cafeteria staff who work
with student committees
to prepare inviting meals
despite the limiting regulations you must work
within. YOU are the
teacher aides who work
tirelessly to support our
neediest students. YOU
are the secretaries who
do everything we ask
you to do, without question and who offer a
smile and encouragement to students, parents
and staff who visit our
building. Thank you for
making this school community what it is!!
I will be leaving
Duanesburg
High
School on June 30th.
This was not planned.
My husband was offered
a position in North Carolina as the Director of
Safety for the North
Carolina Electric Membership Group. I will be
joining him after graduation and will start a new
chapter of my professional career. I leave
with fond memories and
want to thank all of
YOU for enriching my
life.
Feature
7
5
4
Guidance team shares student load
The Eagle’s Eye
Duanesburgnesburganesburg
Spring
Ms. Halvorsen, Mr. White great additions to DCS staff
by Ashley Battaglioli
Included in the
many new editions to
Duanesburg school and
staff, are the two new
guidance counselors, Ms.
Elizabeth Halvorsen and
Mr. James White. Instead
of having one guidance
counselor
for
middle
school and one for high
school, Ms.
Halvorsen
works with all students
with the last name A-La,
while Mr. White works
with students La-Z.
Ms.
Halvorsen
has been a guidance counselor since 2005: working
in Massachusetts, Bishop
Maginn in Albany and
presently,
Duanesburg.
She attended SUNY Potsdam for her undergraduate
and Boston University for
her graduate degree. Ms.
Halvorsen loves her job
and says working with
kids keeps her young and
energetic. Since the start
of her job here, Duanesburg has showed her that
everyday is something
new. She gets to help kids
grow into their future and
help guide them on their
path to success. While
she's not meeting with
students, she's enjoying
time with her kids, skiing
or wake boarding.
This
is
Mr.
White's first year as a
guidance counselor. He
attended California Lutheran University for his
undergraduate and he attended Sage College for
his graduate degree. He
previously worked as a
teacher assistant at Saratoga Springs and worked as
a residence director at
SUNY Cobleskill and Sienna College. Mr. White
has become fond of the
students and building relationships with them. He
sees himself as a student's
"personal cheerleader" and
enjoys seeing students
grow and mature. When
Mr. White isn't helping
students, he spends time
with his nephews and
plays on an adult kickball
team. Since the start of his
career at Duanesburg, he's
helped students strive for
their goals and achieve
success.
Ms.
Halvorsen
and Mr. White are excellent additions to Duanesburg's school and staff.
They've been a
great help to the seniors in
assisting with college and
scholarships. They're funny and energetic and have
made all the students feel
at ease.
They both work
well together and assist
students to the best of their
abilities.
Mr. White and Ms. Halvorsen celebrate
Halloween as a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich.
Sports
The Eagle’s Eye
Duanesburgnesburganesburg
Spring
White earns fifth in world championship
By Connelly Holmes
In 2011 Duanesburg
graduated
Nick
Gwiazdowski who later
went on to become the best
in the nation in his weight
class. Now in the class of
2015, we have another star
athlete.
Emma White went to
Worlds in Spain this year
for cycling. Here, in the
heart of Duanesburg, is a
star athlete. Emma comes
from a family of cyclers
including her brother Curtis who also is involved in
competitive cycling.
The one question I
wanted to ask Emma was
two words, what's next?
She responded with training. “It is my second and
last year at Juniors, so I am
focusing on that, and there
is Worlds in Virginia next
September so I am planning for that as well.”
Then I got thinking, how
can a girl during her senior
year of high school, still so
young balance school,
friends, and a professional
cycling career? “ I am so
lucky to have the teachers
I have,” Emma answered,
“Mr. White (Emma's guidance counselor) and Mrs.
Wehner and all of my
friends are great and very
supportive and there to
help me.”
Emma later went on to
tell me about how her defining cycling moment was
at Worlds. She realized
what she was capable of
such greatness right as she
crossed the finish line. “I
was just hoping for top
ten!” Instead she finished
fifth, exceeding well over
her expectations.
Overall everyone in
Duanesburg is beaming
with joy over Emma's victory and the success she
had in Worlds. Emma
White is truly a shining
gem in a small town.
The Eagle’s Eye
is selecting next
year’s staff! See
Mr. Reiter.
Emma White racing with the wind!
Getting ready for spring sports!
(photo by Casey B. Gibson)